Unemployed, sick didn't choose fate
As a gainfully employed American taxpayer for the last 38+ years, I feel extremely fortunate to not have to suffer the indignity and humiliation that the right wing conservatives, i.e., Sen. Jim Bunning from Kentucy, Sen. Tom Coburn from Oklahoma and numerous cable-TV neocon rabble rousers have been heaping upon our unemployed "working class heroes" collecting unemployment benefits!
How easy and condescending it would be for me to join in with these elite fat cats and echo their unfeeling rhetoric toward our unfortunate American brothers and sisters.
Does anyone believe the unemployed wouldn't go back to their now-nonexistent jobs if given the choice? Does anyone believe these people chose to be hungry, homeless, destitute?
Your self-righteous, wealthy, and entitled conservatives seem to believe so!
I ask all our neighbors, co-workers, and relatives who are considering voting for Republican candidates who will run on a campaign of repealing the health care reform legislation, cutting off unemployment benefits to our needy unemployed Americans and pandering to anti-government tea party militias, "Is this the American way?"
Is it truly "everyone for themselves" when our country and some of our American brethren are in dire need? Are these candidates truly representative of our American values? Are they representative of your beliefs of what America should be?
In the America I believe in, the strong help the weak, the fortunate aid the unfortunate, the healthy heal the ailing. And no one would vote for politicians who campaign on a platform of "reduced taxes for the wealthy won't add to the deficit, but extended unemployment benefits for our unemployed family, friends and neighbors will compound the deficit" rhetoric!
The American people, as a nation and individually, have always been extremely generous to other nations facing natural disasters, as well as our own. Let's not allow the "party of no" to subvert our innate sense of compassion and generosity to those Americans in need of extended unemployment benefits and health care.
Alfred N. Godinez
Prairie View